Former Chief Executive (CE) of Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Dr Stephen Kwabena Opuni has accused the Registrar of the Land Division of the Accra High Court of trying to frustrate the mounting of his defence.
He alleged that the Registrar is going contrary to the express order given to him by the court, which he found to be very unfortunate.
Dr Opuni, as part of efforts to defend the GH¢2.1 billion financial loss to the Republic of Ghana case, brought up against him and two others by the state, provided names and details of witnesses to be subpoenaed to testify on his behalf.
These witnesses include; Reginald Adukwah, a Banker with the Standard Chartered Bank PLC. He is also a former CE of COCOBOD’s banking relations.
Dr. Opuni, who is the first accused person in the case, told the court, through his Counsel, Samuel Codjoe, that the Registrar rather went on a wild goose chase at Ecobank, searching for the said Reginald Adukwah, instead of going to the Standard Chartered Bank.
Samuel Codjoe further told the court, presided over by Justice Tandoh Aboagye, that the conduct of the Registrar was nothing but negligent.
Counsel couldn’t fathom why despite the name and other details, including the telephone number of the subpoenaed witness being provided, the Registry and his officers still went looking for the person at a different location.
Counsel Codjoe stated the position of his client, after Counsel for Ecobank, during Thursday’s hearing, told the court that the bank had received a hearing notice, together with an order for subpoena of Reginald Aduakwah.
Counsel told the court that when he inquired from the Human Resource Development department of the Ecobank, he was informed that the said Reginald Aduakwah had resigned from the employment of the bank.
It was this statement that brought Mr Codjoe to his feet, stating that: “we believe the Registrar had been negligent and we state that this is a continuous habit that we are becoming very concerned about.
“If you refer to the subpoena filed on May 11, 2022 at 11:39am, at the Registry of the Court, it is clear that we have Standard Chartered Bank and not Ecobank. We also have his (Witness) telephone number on the subpoena. As to why in spite of this, you (Registrar) still went to Ecobank without checking or verifying the address is something that is not acceptable.”
Counsel Codjoe has constantly complained to the court about the conduct of the Registrar, saying they filed a search on Tuesday, November 14, 2023 at the registry, seeking some information, but even though their clerk has always been going to the Registrar to retrieve the answers, they have still not been answered, and that the registry officers have resorted to giving all sort of excuses.
“If you juxtapose this with the fact that as at now the same Registrar has neglected or refused to give us copies of proceedings, we are inclined to believe that it is a deliberate act to frustrate the first accused,” he said.
The court then ordered the Registrar to appear before it, in respect of the allegations levelled against him.
In his explanation, the Registrar said Mr. Codjoe should come to him direct, instead of going to his subordinates.
Although the court did not permit Lawyer Codjoe to question the Registrar on why he addressed the hearing notice to subpoena Reginald Aduakwah to Ecobank instead of Standard Chartered Bank, the judge urged the Registrar to treat all matters filed at the registry with equal urgency.
On Monday, November 13, 2023 Mr. Codjoe complained to the court that an order made by the court on July 12, 2023 that the defence should be given proceedings of the court had not been followed by the Registry.
He said they don’t have the entire proceedings and that they have to rely on their own notes to file their application at the Court of Appeal.
Meanwhile, records of the appeal show numerous errors, which the court’s attention had been drawn to.
He insisted that they needed to have records of proceedings to know what records the court adopted for the trial.
8th Defence Witness
The court has meanwhile started hearing the evidence of Dr. Opuni’s 8th defence witness (DW8), Dr. Gilbert Anim Kwapong, also subpoenaed.
Dr. G.A. Kwapong was once the Executive Director of Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG). He was led in evidence by Mr. Codjoe.
The following are excerpts of his Evidence in chief;
Q. Where do you live?
A. I live at Oyarifa.
Q. Where do you work?
A. I have retired from the Ghana Cocoa Board.
Q. When did you retire from the Ghana Cocoa Board?
A. I retired on December 11, 2022.
Q. What is your professional qualification?
A. I have a PhD in Cocoa Agro Forestry.
Q. Is that all the professional qualifications you have?
A. Yes please
Q. What about academic qualifications?
A. The same thing for the professional. I hold BsC Hons in Agriculture Science from the University of Ghana. The PhD is from the University of Wales, UK.
Q. Do you have a Master’s?
A. No.
Q. When did you start working in COCOBOD and by this you will give us the year?
A. I started on January 11, 1990 at the CRIG, as an Assistant Research officer.
Q. Can you tell us from there, where and when you worked in COCOBOD?
A I rose through the ranks from the position of Assistant Research Officer in 1990 to the position of Chief Research Scientist in 2012. I was appointed acting Executive Director in September 2014. On January 30, 2017 I was transferred to the Cocoa House. There was no position attached to it at the time. On May 3, 2017 I assumed work at the Cocoa Diseases and Pests Control (CODPEC) as Director.
Q. So prior to your being transferred from CRIG, you had always worked in CRIG?
A. Yes.
Q. Can you tell us your station or stations that you worked in at CRIG?
A. After returning from study leave in 1995, I worked at the CRIG Head Office till 2005. Then from 2005 to 2012, I was transferred to CRIG sub-station at Aposu, near New Abirim.
Q. As what. What was your position there?
A. I was the Head of the sub-station. After that sub-station, in 2013, I was transferred to the Head Office at new Tafo to head the Agronomy Division. From there, I was appointed the Executive Director, as I have already started in September 2014.
Q. What were your duties as the head of the Agronomy Division in CRIG?
A. My Lord, I had oversight duties and I coordinated all the research that were done at the station and also managed and supervised the work schedule of the staff working under me. I was responsible for representing the division at all fora. There were other duties that…
Q. Who was your boss when you were the Head of the Agronomy Division?
A. My boss was Dr F.M. Amoah.
Q. Who did you take over from as the acting Head of CRIG when you were first appointed?
A. I took over from Dr. F.M. Amoah.
Q. Where is Dr F.M. Amoah
A. I don’t know.
Q. Who took over from you when you were transferred to the Cocoa House in 2017?
A. Dr. F.M. Amoah
Q. Can you please explain to the court how Dr F.M. Amoah, whom you took over from at CRIG, now came to take over from you in 2017?
A. My Lord, I have no idea.
Q. At the time you took over from Dr Amoah at CRIG, was he in employment at COCOBOD?
A. He was in employment with COCOBOD.
Q. In what position?
A. I don’t remember the title of the position, but I knew he was at the Head office at the Cocoa House.
Q. What were your duties as the Head of CRIG?
A. I was in charge of managing the division, Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana, supervising the work of all heads of divisions, managing the financial and human resources of CRIG and several others I cannot recall. I believe you have other documents that I presented to EOCO and CID at the time… all of the information is contained in the document I presented to EOCO and the statement I gave to the CID. In that document the job description is listed. And that is where I listed all the activities.
Q. You mentioned CRIG, can you tell us the divisions of CRIG?
A. I will start with my own division, Agronomy, Soil Science Division and Ethnology Division, Plant Philology/Biochemistry division and the plant Pathology division. In addition, we have two units, the farming system unit and new products development unit. We also had the IT or the ISD system and we have the General Administration – the Human Resource and the Accounts departments.
Q. What is the core mandate or functions of CRIG?
A. Our core mandate is to research into the production and protection of good quality cocoa, coffee, cola, shea nut and cashew. We were also to ensure that we provided very good information that will ensure the wellbeing and welfare of cocoa farmers and famers of other mandated crops.
Q. You mentioned quality cocoa, what did CRIG do, if any, in pursuance of its mandate of ensuring quality cocoa production?
A. My Lord, several characters and trades come together to constitute quality cocoa beans. Number 1, it is the bean size, the butter or fat content of the bean, the bean should be free from all sorts of contaminants. It should be free from foreign materials – debris, stone and other things. The bean should not be tainted or stained by any chemical. Also, the bean should have the minimum residue of any chemical that applied. It must also be free from fungal toxics.
Last but not the least, it must be well dried from moisture content of 7%. We ensure that all what I have mentioned is achieved. Then we research into most efficient way that we meet the required trades and characteristics to beat things mentioned.
Q. You talked about the maximum residue level of chemicals applied to the beans. Can you tell this court whether you applied chemicals to cocoa?
Q. I referred to the maximum residue level. All chemicals applied to cocoa whether insecticides, fungicides, fertilisers among others, the insecticide and fungicides come in two types – the systemic and the contact. And the emphasis is now on the systematic. For systematic fungicide or insecticides, the plants picked up these chemicals and ends up in the beans and over time it degrades to a certain level.
Most countries would require that beans would have a minimum residue level that would not be toxic to humans. So we have a clear cut interval that the chemical will degrade in the cocoa beans to a level that is acceptable by the market.
So, for example, the interval you spray, the right interval degrades the chemical and I have mentioned that. The example I was going to give is Japan. it requires some particular chemical molecules in cocoa beans and it should be less than 5pack per billion. Basically, that is the maximum residue level.
